Los Angeles Has Highest Increase in Home Prices on West Coast

We misread the data and had to fix this post, including the headline. We originally said L.A. had the highest home prices on the coast, period, which isn't the case. Apologies.

Forget what you heard about San Francisco and its tech-mogul-fueled real estate market.

If you want to find the highest increase in home prices on the West Coast, you need look no further than your own backyard. That's right, L.A. is owning overheated real estate these days:

According to data analyzed by Movoto Real Estate, L.A. has not only some of the the highest per-square-foot real estate prices on the West Coast ($432), but the increase from July, 2012 to this month is also the West Coast's largest -- nearly 29 percent.

Movato

But wait, there's more:

Although much of the West Coast's inventory loosened up a little, meaning there are more homes on the market than in June, which would be a good thing for house shoppers, L.A. is still a tough buy.

Los Angeles saw a 22 percent decrease in inventory -- the number of houses available -- since July 2012. A Movato spokeswoman told the Weekly:

Los Angeles is third on the list for having a large decline in inventory year-over-year.

Salem, Oregon (number 1) and Bellevue, Washington (number 2) beat us out on that metric.

Still, if you're trying to find a home in L.A. for a decent price, best of luck to you. We hear Vegas is still affordable.